He was speaking to journalists while flying back to Rome from Sweden, where he had been welcomed by the female head of the Lutheran Church. “St Pope John Paul II had the last clear word on this and it stands, this stands,” the Pope said.

He was referring to a 1994 document by Pope John Paul that closed the door on a female priesthood. The Vatican says this teaching is an infallible part of Catholic tradition. The reporter then pressed the Pope: “But forever, forever? Never, never?” Francis responded: “If we read carefully the declaration by St John Paul II, it is going in that direction.”